He Said What?

As I got settled in to watch a Sunday afternoon full of NFL football on the tube, I stumbled across a pre-game interview between Marshall Faulk (ex St. Louis Rams running back) and current Baltimore Raven linebacker Ray Lewis. The interview aired on the NFL Network and was part of the hype leading up to the 1:00 pm games. During the interview, Faulk asked Lewis if he respected his upcoming opponent, the Cincinnati Bengals. The answer Lewis gave startled me so, I had to rewind the DVR on my cable box and re-watch. Lewis said; “The power of respect is in not disrespecting anybody. I don’t respect anybody. I just take care not to (arbitrarily) disrespect anybody”. I had to think about what he just said and the context in which he said it and it made perfect sense. Ray Lewis is a warrior on the football field. He has to project a no fear image to his teammates and opponents alike. Any opponent that wanders into Lewis’ area of the field during play has given him a reason to (violently) disrespect them. Brilliant! What a positive mind set for a NFL linebacker. I think this attitude can be adapted to non violent educational and business endeavors by realizing that any situation you encounter can be approached aggressively and analyzed to see if it deserves “respect”. How about taking an “no fear” approach to all your endeavors and attacking them with the gusto of a linebacker. Term paper due? No fear, dive right in and knock it out! Am I crazy? What do you think? Ray also dropped another gem during the same interview: “Greatness is a lot of small things done well”. Wow another DVR rewind so I could let that one sink in. Who would have known that Ray Lewis was a budding philosopher? Who said watching the NFL wasn’t educational? Thanks for your attention.